CCS Division I baseball final: St. Francis rolls over Serra to break title drought

SAN JOSE — One of the best seasons in the history of St. Francis baseball ended Saturday night with the program’s first Central Coast Section championship in 12 years.

John Gavin retired the first 13 batters he faced while looking like he might duplicate the perfect game teammate Michael Strem threw in the opening round as the Lancers defeated Serra 10-0 for the Division I championship at Municipal Stadium.

Gavin allowed one hit, struck out eight and walked two to finish the season with 11 wins in 12 decisions.

“The biggest thing with him is there were a lot of people who doubted whether or not he could pitch in a big game and get it done on this stage,” St. Francis coach Mike Oakland said, “and he obviously proved to them all that he could. He gave us everything we needed right there.”

The game ended when Chris Baker was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to cap a three-run sixth, giving the Lancers a 10-run rule triumph.

Tempers flared briefly between the teams during St. Francis’ celebration. But once cooler heads prevailed, CCS officials held their traditional awards ceremony.

The outcome ended years of frustration for St. Francis in the CCS playoffs and gave Oakland his first section championship as coach.

“It feels great, better than I even thought it would feel — phenomenal,” Oakland said.

Asked what the outcome proved, Gavin, a junior, said, “That we don’t choke. Every time we go out for summer ball, the first thing people say when I say I’m from St. Francis is, ‘Oh, you guys choke. You’ve had some first-round blunders.’

“We were out on a mission this year to prove them wrong. We wanted to show everyone that we can play and I think we proved that pretty well tonight against a really, really good team. Not only just beating them, but 10-running them.”

In a game that started 99 minutes late because the previous games ran long, Gavin and Serra’s Orlando Razo mowed through the first three innings without allowing a hit.

But St. Francis, ranked third in the state by Cal-Hi Sports, came to life in the fourth inning, scoring three runs to give Gavin the cushion he needed to finish off the Lancers’ championship run.

The left-hander struck out four in the first two innings and had six strikeouts through four.

Hunter Simmons had the game’s first hit, a double to left-center with one out in the fourth that moved Austin Guibor to third. Jordan Paroubeck, Serra’s star center fielder, and left fielder Neil Sterling collided viciously while trying to catch Simmons’ hit, and Paroubeck removed himself from the game later in the inning.

“As time wore on, he started to not know where he was,” Serra coach Craig Gianinno said.

Paroubeck was taken to a hospital, the coach added.

“It just goes to show how much this moment meant by how aggressive and fearless and committed they were to go after that ball,” Gianinno said. “It puts it all in perspective when you see a vicious collision like that. I think our hearts are heavy right now.”

St. Francis broke open the game in the fifth as Mark Cardinalli drove in two with a single to center, Tim Susnara hit a run-scoring sacrifice fly to left and Chris Baker followed with an RBI-single to left.

Christian Conci’s single down the left-field line with one out in the fifth ended Gavin’s perfect game, but Conci was thrown out at second trying to stretch the hit into a double.

It was that kind of night for Serra, which tied St. Francis for the West Catholic Athletic League’s regular-season championship.

Gavin credited his defense for making his job easier.

“I was a little nervous going into the game and all of them came up to me and said they were confident in me and have got my back,” Gavin said. “That’s really all I needed. I just was throwing the ball and if they hit it, great, I knew my defense was going to get me.”

The victory was St. Francis’ second in three games against Serra, ranked eighth in the state, and capped a season in which the Lancers opened 24-1, lost three of four heading into the CCS playoffs and then won four straight to close the season.

“It’s been a really long and difficult year for us as far as the competition we played,” Oakland said. “These kids grinded it out in practice and every game we played was a pressure game. We didn’t take any freebies. I couldn’t be more proud of this group. This is the best team I’ve ever coached in terms of their focus, their discipline, their camaraderie.”

Gianinno spoke highly of his team, too.

“Tonight doesn’t define who this group is,” the Serra coach said. “The outcome on the scoreboard is what it is. This group is WCAL champion. This group got to the championship game in the WCAL tournament. This group persevered and got to this game tonight. We didn’t get it done, but the body of work and culmination of this year and this season is incredible.”